This could never have happened though. That squad - including Rohan as coach - was built using money we never had and could never realistically afford!

Without a doubt haha, but did David Thorne not offer to tupe all contracts of that squad over when he met them all at cue gardens?

That's assuming Toovey will actually be our coach next season.

Not sure that's exactly true.

Obviously, I've no more [iactual[/i real idea of the of how the cost stacked up than you or anyone else on here, other than them being, as a whole, too much, of course. 'As a whole', is the point though. One thing everyone agreed on after the season before last is that the squad was way too large. Then, knock us all down with a feather, what did they do for last season(after telling us we were going to get a 'leaner' squad) but give us an even bigger one.

It's impossible to say for sure, but it's far from impossible that, if all the players who never pulled on a shirt or played just a couple of games had never been added to the payroll, we may well have been able to afford a 'realistic' squad, based on Rohan and the regular (say 24) team members from last season. Those ridiculously enormous squads were certainly one our biggest, self inflicted, blights of the last two years.

It depends really. As a player myself I'd like to say that players win games, purely because we can feel the game and how it is panning out. We know who the danger men are and can act accordingly. We are the ones setting up plays (albeit taught by the coach) but it's our execution that could be the difference between a win and loss. Our tackles (or in the Bulls case, lack of) which can determine a game.

However I am also under no illusion that the coach does play a huge huge part in preparing the players so they can go out and do that. Additionally, they also can see better when players fatigue or see that the opposition is shattered and they make the call and get an interchange on who could change the entire game. Furthermore they are the ones who pick the team, as we have seen in the past coaches have picked second rowers at halfback when the logical choice would have been someone else. It either pays off or it doesn't and that rests with the coach.

So to answer your question I would say it is a combination of things. However players should be accountable for their performance on the pitch. No matter what strategies the coach chooses, there is no excuse for basic errors (dropped balls, missed tackles, lack of concentration etc). However a coach should be held accountable for team selections, should admit when they have it wrong, and also should be held accountable for the personnel they recruit (Herbert and Seijka anyone?). And also their use of the bench.

People can generalise all they want, but if we're talking about just the Bulls, then overwhelmingly the elephant in the room was, is and remains the sheer weight of possession and position we give almost every team we play, through bad passes, dropped balls, avoidable penalties, shoite kicks and poor decisions.

A lot can be excused in such a ludicrous situation as the RFL put us in, and there's no doubt on their day we can play very well, but the kilometres of territory that we are conceding all the time, as well as being soooooooo frustrating to constantly watch, is THE factor that is killing us.

And I have no clue if the coach can do anything about that, or what is causing it.

I'd reckon if we kept possession just as much as your average side, then we'd be close to out of trouble now, if not exactly cracking any pots. But we seem determined to write the ultimate proof of the book "You Can't Win Without The Ball".

Its like asking what is the most important part of a car, the engine or gear box. Its hard to have one without the other. In Bradfords case this season you have probably the worst squad in the league so if anyone managed to get you out of the bottom 2 then they had performed miracles. Getting a lot of loan players in from other teams helped somewhat but it was still a big ask to over achieve. Look at the league table though and try and work out who are the under achievers and the over achievers.

My over achievers:-
London
Fev
Fax
Sheffield
Rochdale
Oldham

Under achievers:-
Hull KR
Toulouse
Batley
Dewsbury
Swinton
Bradford

I dont think its any coincidence that the over achievers seem to have had a level of consistency at coaching level.

Interesting that one of the over-achievers on your list has just sacked their coach and appointed the coach of one of the under-achievers...

I think Swinton have been unlucky with injuries this season which has probably helped them to under achieve. I think Duffy is a good coach though.

I was going on that assumption as it was one of the points relayed by Fr13day and FA from meeting AC

Neither players or coaches win us matches..

If we're gonna continue to kill ourselves every week maybe we could rebrand the club as Bradford Kenny

SHJ,

Personally I am really surprised with JS getting the sack and even more so at the timing of it. His record at Fev over the period doesn't look bad: 2015 - 5th, 2016 - 4th, 2017 - 3rd?, winning the Shield in 2015, quarter finals of the CC this year. It had crossed my mind that if Fev made 3rd this year, won a couple of games in the middle 8's and Bradford got relegated, to come back on here and ask if everyone thought Toovey is a better coach than JS. Though the truth is that given the players available to both coaches I realise that this would not have been a fair question.

For me it looks to be more going on behind the scenes than meets the eye. I guess I will never know.

However back to the question, I personally think that it is a combination of the two. You have to have a coach that can communicate and explain what he wants the players to do. And then you have to have players that can take on board what has been requested and execute it. Some players don't have the ability to undertake what is being asked of them and some coaches do not have the ability to communicate what they want. Don't forget not everyone learns in the same way and sometime you have to adapt your communication skills to get things over.

I would go with it being 60% Players and 40% Coaching that wins games and the 20% difference is that the players have to be good enough to adapt on the pitch to current circumstances, which are sometime out side of the control of them or the coach.

There is only one Bradford Kenny and he was on the pitch at ht at Batley!